The Secrets of Levy McGarden
by Madielysabeth
Summary: Levy's been in the guild as long as she can remember, but when her past comes back to haunt her how will Gajeel help out. Gajevy GaLe.


"Gajeel I would just leave it be, I can't tell you why, that's her decision, but you're gonna wanna give her some space," Mira says quietly as she fills up his glass once again.

Gajeel had been talking to Mira for about half an hour, trying to convince her to tell him why the Shrimp hadn't shown up. Levy had been quiet all this week but today she wasn't even in the guild. Gajeel had asked everyone what was going on but all he got were a few sad looks and requests to ask her himself. Gajeel was going insane, he couldn't stand not being able to get straight answers from the people in the guild, especially when it came to his Shrimp. Finally, Gajeel had made up his mind to go see her himself, he was going to get answers and if he couldn't get if from the guild he'd definitely get it from the source.

"Levy open up!' Gajeel yells as he pounds on the door, he had been waiting outside her apartment with no answer for 5 minutes and he was finally getting fed up. Her smell was still fresh so he knew that she was still in there. Slowly the door opened to a disheveled looking Levy. Her hair in unorganized curls around her face, her cheeks stained with tears from her bloodshot eyes and the extra large shirt that hung off of her that ended just under her ass telling him that she probably hadn't been out much.

"What do you want Gajeel..?" Levy asks quietly as she looks down at his feet. Gajeel was shocked to see the state he was in. Her normally bright smile and cheery tone nowhere to be found.

"Whats going on Shrimp?" He asks quietly as he stares at her face, wanting to be able to gauge her reaction.

"I don't know that you're talking about...Look I'm kinda busy, can we talk later?" She asks as she moves to close her door, only to be blocked by his foot.

"Wa-"

"Don't give me this crap Lev, you've been quiet and distant this whole week. I wanna know what happened and I'm not leaving till you tell me what happened," He growls only to freeze when Levy looks up at him with tear-filled eyes.

Levy turns around, motioning Gajeel to follow her as she goes and takes a seat on her couch. Any other day Gajeel's eyes would have been glued to her perfect backside, but today he was too worried.

They sat in silence for a minute, Levy with her knees pulls nervously to her chest and Gajeel who was now nervously playing with his hands.

"You know how most of us have been at the guild since we've been little kids?" Levy says suddenly as she stares down at the floor, unable to look Gajeel in the eyes as he nods in agreement.

"Well that's cause most of us are orphans, you already know about Natsu since he was raised by Igneel, Cana's mother died when she was young though the still had Gildarts, same with the Strauss siblings. Most everyone knows everyone's story...but I..I've only told Mira and Erza mine..." she says as her lip starts to quiver, tears slowly starting to collect in her eyes. Gajeel slowly reaches for her hand and squeezes it softly, trying to comfort the small girl as best as he could.

Levy takes a deep breath before continuing. "Makarov found me when I was really little, 3 at most, I actually think I might have been one of the youngest people to ever be in the guild before Asuka. Both of my parents were extremely powerful, they had taken out a bunch of dark mages and made a lot of enemies along the way," Levy says before cringing at the memory of all the enemies her amazing parents had made.

"Well after they found out that they were gonna have me they had to slow down, especially cause my mom couldn't cast any spells without endangering me, they wanted to have a family and not have to worry about the dangers or missions anymore, so my mom started to take translation jobs." Levy laughed quietly under her breath.

"Funny how they wanted to make things safe...they would have been fine if they didn't."

Gajeel sat quietly as he listened to the girl, noticing how hard Levy was squeezing his fingers though she kept her voice as steady as she could.

"One day my mom had to translate a book for the council, it was in some rare language that only about..10 people know in existence. Well, there was a dark guild that wanted the book so they came after my parents. They went on the run for a little bit, trying to wait for things to slow down. Well, one day they found my parents, tortured the hell out of them for the translation of the book. Well, one day my dad finally snapped, they had threatened my mom with a knife, said they were gonna kill her if they didn't find out which one could translate the book. My dad said that he was the one who could do it, giving my mom and I a chance to escape alive. My dad died there and my mom and I were on the run for another 3 months. They eventually caught her and they brutally tortured her...I-I had to watch.." By now Levy was sobbing and shaking slightly, her chest heaving as she tried to collect herself.

Gajeel was frozen in shock, he couldn't believe that his Shrimp had been through this, well not his, but still he couldn't believe it. She had been through so much at such a small age. Anger rushed through his veins as he thought of how he wanted to make the bastards who did this pay.

"They left me for dead since I was only 3 and didn't stand a chance outside, especially since I didn't show any signs of magic. Makarov found me bruised and crying in the woods one day while he was on a walk with Laxus. He brought me to the guild and I've been a part of it ever since. They thought I had been too young to remember it but a few weeks ago I read something on a job and it just all came back to me. Makarov seems to think that the language might have been the one that my mom had read and I possibly retained seeing it from when I was little. Wendy and Freed have been using calming spells on me to keep me sane but they went to missions this week so I've been staying at my house."

Gajeel stares at Levy, his eyes wide with shock as he went over everything that had just been revealed to him.

"Holy shit Shrimp...I- I'm so sorry, no one should have to watch that..." he mumbles as he squeezes her now shaking hand.

"I..It's fine..just please don't tell anyone, I don't want anyone to find out. Master just told everyone that I've been having panic attacks from a mission so that they leave me alone but I don't want them actually to know."

Gajeel nods in understanding before noticing how tired Levy looked, bags were starting to form under her eyes and she was starting to lean on his shoulder.

"When was the last time you slept Lev?" he asks nervously.

"Uhhh..3 days..," she mumbles quietly.

"Jesus shrimp you need to sleep!"

"I..I can't.." Levy mumbles sadly. "I..I've been having night terrors"

Gajeel hesitates slightly. "I'll wake you up if you have a nightmare, I promise.," he says as he puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Really, you'd stay just so I can sleep?" She says as she looks up at him with adoration, the shine in her eyes returning for a minute.

Gajeel nods as he ruffles her hair. "I promise, I'll stay here the whole time."

Levy smiles before laying her head on his lap, curling up like Lily on one of his good days.

Gajeel's eyes widen as he looks at the small girl on his lap, trusting him enough to fall asleep with him there.

"Thank you.."Levy mumbles before closing her eyes and falling asleep in his warmth.


End file.
